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Celia Thaxter
| birth_place = Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S. | death_date = August | death_place = Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals, Maine, U.S. | occupation = Poet and writer | movement = | genre = | notableworks = | influences = | influenced = }} Celia Laighton Thaxter (June 29, 1835 - August 25, 1894) was an American poet and story writer, best known for her memoir, An Island Garden. . Life Thaxter was born Celia Laighton in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She grew up on the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine, on White Island (where her father, Thomas Laighton, was a lighthouse keeper), and then on Smuttynose and Appledore Islands. When she was 16, she married Levi Thaxter and moved to the mainland, residing in Watertown, Massachusetts at a property his father owned. In 1854, they accepted an offer to use a house in Newburyport. The couple then acquired their own home, today called the Celia Thaxter House, built in 1856 near the Charles River at Newtonville. She had a son, Roland, born August 28, 1858, who would later become a prominent plant pathologist. Her earliest published poem, Landlocked, was written during this time on the mainland. Her married life was not harmonious and she missed her islands, and so after 10 years away, she moved back to Appledore Island. Celia became the hostess of her father's hotel, the Appledore House, and welcomed many New England literary and artistic notables to the island and to her parlor, including writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Whittier, Sarah Orne Jewett, and artists William Morris Hunt and Childe Hassam, who painted several pictures of her. She was present at the time of the infamous murders on Smuttynose Island, about which she wrote the essay, "A Memorable Murder." William Morris Hunt, a close family friend, spent the last months of his life on Appledore Island, trying to recover from a crippling depression. He drowned in late summer 1879, 3 days after finishing his last sketch. Celia Thaxter discovered the painter's body, an apparent suicide. Also in 1879, the Thaxters bought 186 acres (75 hectares) along Seapoint Beach on Cutts Island, Kittery Point, where they built a grand Shingle Style "cottage" called Champernowne Farm. In 1880, they auctioned the Newtonville house, and by 1881, moved to the new home. It stayed in the family until the 1989 death of her granddaughter and biographer, Rosamond Thaxter. Her poems originally appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and she became one of America's favorite authors in the late 19th century. Among her best-known poems are The Burgomaster Gull, Landlocked, Milking, The Great White Owl, The Kingfisher, and especially The Sandpiper. Celia Thaxter died suddenly while on Appledore Island. She was buried not far from her cottage, which was burned in the 1914 fire that destroyed The Appledore House hotel. Recognition In 2008, The Library of America selected Thaxter's essay, "A Memorable Murder," for inclusion in its 2-century retrospective of American True Crime.Rosamond Thaxter, Sandpiper—The Life and Letters of Celia Thaxter; Peter E. Randall, publisher, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 1963 Images File:Celia Thaxter house in Watertown MA.jpg|Thaxter's home in Watertown, Massachusetts. File:Celia Thaxter House in Newton MA.jpg|The Celia Thaxter House in Newtonville, Massachusetts. File:Celia Thaxter's Cottage, Isles of Shoals, ME.jpg|Thaxter's cottage on Appledore Island File:Celia_Thaxter's_Garden.jpg|''Celia Thaxter's Garden'' by Childe Hassam (1890). Publications Poetry *''Poems''. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1872. *''Drift-Weed. Boston: Houghton, Osgood, 1879. *The Cruise of the Mystery and other poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1886. *Verses. Boston: D. Lothrop, 1891.Verses (1891), Internet Archive. Web, July 19, 2013. *The Poems of Celia Thaxter'' (edited by Sarah Orne Jewett). Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1896. Non-fiction *''My Lighthouse''. 1891. *''Among the Isles of Shoals. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1873.Among the Isles of Shoals Among the Isles of Shoals (1873), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 24, 2013. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1892.Among the Isles of Shoals (1892), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 24, 2013. *An Island Garden. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1894.Celia Thaxter, ''An Island Garden. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1894, A Celebration of Women Writers, University of Pennsylvania, UPenn.edu, Web, Dec. 23, 2011. Juvenile *''Yule Log''. 1889. *''Poems for Children''. Houghton Mifflin, 1883. *''Stories and Poems for Children'' (edited by Sarah Orne Jewett). Houghton Mifflin, 1895. Collected editions *''Celia Thaxter: Selected writings'' (edited by Julia Older). Hancock, NH: Appledore Books, 1997. Letters *''Letters of Celia Thaxter'' (edited by A.F. & R.L.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1895. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy University of Toronto. Selected Poetry of Celia Thaxter (1835-1894), Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto, UToronto.ca, Web, Dec. 23, 2011. See also *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Thaxter, Celia (1835-1894) (2 poems) at Representative Poetry Online *Celia Thaxter at PoemHunter (22 poems) ;Prose *A Memorable Murder *An Island Garden, by Celia Thaxter (excerpt). ;Books *[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/thaxter/garden/garden.html An Island Garden, 1894] *Works of Celia Thaxter at Internet Archive *Celia Thaxter at Amazon.com ;About *Celia Laighton Thaxter at SeacoastNH ;Etc. *About Celia Thaxter's Island Garden Category:1835 births Category:1894 deaths Category:American poets Category:American short story writers Category:Writers from New Hampshire Category:Writers from Maine Category:People from Portsmouth, New Hampshire Category:People from Kittery, Maine Category:American women writers Category:19th-century poets Category:Poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Women poets Category:American gardeners